Call Him
by GylzGirl
Summary: The Scoobies call Giles in England with news of Buffy. [AU "Afterlife"]


Call Him  
  
by GylzGirl  
  
Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, and UPN own every inch of BtVS and everything, good or horribly bad, that is done with it on film. I own only this fic.  
Rating: TV-14  
Pairing: B/G  
Timeline: Right after Bargaining 2 and about to be Jossed to Hell come Tuesday.  
Spoilers: Up through Bargaining 2  
Author's Notes: Thanks to Karen for the Beta. For all the BeeGees in light of recent spoilers. We make our own fun.  
Summary: Following "Bargaining", the gang in Sunnydale makes a call to England.  
Written: Fall 2001  
  
  
******  
  
  
  
  
Willow held the phone in her hand. The cord swayed with the slight tremble of her body. She had tried to play it off as continued weakness from the spell, but Xander at least was not fooled. His eyes never left hers and eventually she broke down.  
  
"How am I supposed to tell him?"  
  
"Will, you just do."  
  
"But I can't just call up and say, 'Guess what Giles, Buffy isn't dead anymore! Yeah, it's pretty cool. Come back home.' He'll have a heart attack."  
  
"He has to know. He's dying inside, Willow. He's in Hell. Giles blames himself for everything bad that ever happened to Buffy, including her death. That's one of the reasons why he wouldn't stay with us. He was afraid he'd get the rest of us killed too. Now are you worried about telling him Buffy's alive or are you scared he's going to read you the riot act for bringing her back?"  
  
"That's not it at all."  
  
"Oh yeah? What exactly is the Wine of the Mother?"  
  
Willow's eyes began to tear up a bit. "That doesn't matter."  
  
"Willow..." Xander began.  
  
"Please," Buffy spoke very softly. All eyes turned to her. "Please Willow. I need Giles back."  
  
This time when Xander looked to Willow, there was no anger. "Call him, Willow."  
  
She nodded and shakily punched in the numbers. "Ru-Rupert Giles please."  
  
After a few minutes that allowed the butterflies in Willow's stomach to multiply, there came the familiar voice on the line. "Hello?"  
  
"Giles, h-hi. It's Willow."  
  
"Hello Willow. You don't sound very well. Is everyone all right? Dawn?"  
  
"Dawn's fine Giles...um...," she breathed, trying to think how to tell him. "We had a run in with a demon motorcycle gang and the... the Buffybot was destroyed."  
  
"Oh...oh dear." Willow could almost hear the wheels of Giles' mind turning. How, in a way, this news would be like losing Buffy all over again. "They didn't discover the truth about her did they?"  
  
"They did. But, they were all killed so the word won't get out."  
  
"You took on a whole gang and...won? That's very impressive."  
  
"Well, we had a little help."  
  
"Help?"  
  
"Yeah, um Giles... there's someone here that wants to talk to you."  
  
Before he had a chance to question, Willow held the phone out to Buffy. Her eyes widened in fear. She looked to each of the room's occupants for help. They all nodded at her, coming to realize what Willow had. Giles would never accept this until he heard her himself.  
  
Tentatively she took the phone from Willow's hand and settled it against her cheek. She was trying to think what to say when Giles must have heard her breathing on the other end. "Hello? Dawn, is that you? Hello?"  
  
"Giles?"  
  
"Y-yes... wh-who is this?"  
  
Buffy could tell by the stutter, the slight tremor in his voice, that unconsciously he had already identified her. His rational brain though was going to need more. She swallowed hard. "Giles, it's me. It's Buffy. Will... Willow brought me back. It's okay. It's me. I'm... I'm me."  
  
"Buffy?" The sound was a strangled noise as the air went out of his lungs.  
  
"Giles? Giles are you there?" Straining to hear, she could make out muffled sobbing noises. It was as if he'd started to cry and had his hand over the receiver to keep her from knowing. "Please don't cry."  
  
"I-I don't understand. How can you be... Oh God... if there was some way I should have found it... I should have..."  
  
"Willow said it was a long shot. And it almost didn't work. She said she couldn't raise your hopes in case it failed."  
  
"She should have told me anyway!"  
  
"I'm not dead any more Giles. You don't have to yell quite so loud. I can hear you." Buffy chewed on her bottom lip, hoping the humor wasn't as inappropriate as it felt.  
  
On the other end, Giles burst into a soggy chuckle that soon descended into open weeping. "It's you... it's really you... Buffy... Buffy."  
  
The last time she'd remembered him crying like this was after Jenny had been killed. At least then she'd been able to hold him. Knowing he was in this much pain and that she was too far away to do anything about it almost felt like dying all over again.  
  
"Giles, come home. Please? I need you here. Please come back?"  
  
He cleared his throat several times and took a series of deep breaths. "I'll book the first flight back. I'll be there tomorrow... I... Oh God, I don't think I can hang up the phone."  
  
Buffy smiled. "The sooner you do, the sooner you'll be here."  
  
"Promise me."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Promise me you'll be alive when I get there? Promise me that this is all real?"  
  
He sounded so much like a lost little boy that it broke her heart. "I promise."  
  
"I... I'm on my way."  
  
"Bye Giles." She started to pull the phone away from her ear.  
  
"Buffy!"  
  
She quickly brought it back. "Yes?"  
  
"I missed you so much. I-I love you Buffy."   
  
Again, she smiled. "Hurry."  
  
  
  
******  
  
  
It was noon the next day when Giles knocked on the door to the Summers' house. When no one answered, he fished in his pocket and got out the key.  
  
Upon opening the door, he looked into the living room. Willow and Tara were curled together under a blanket on the couch. Spike was wrapped up in a dark corner, attempting to achieve a fetal position in an overstuffed chair. Xander and Anya shared a sleeping bag on the floor near the still flickering but muted television set.  
  
He closed the door quietly, his eyes going to the stairs as he heard footsteps approaching. Dawn rounded the corner upstairs. As soon as she saw him, she smiled. Tears came to her eyes and she practically ran down the stairs and jumped into his arms. He held her tightly, tears brimming in his eyes too.  
  
"It's true Giles. It's really Buffy. She's alive. She's alive." He smoothed her hair and kissed the top of her head.  
  
He pulled back to look into her eyes. "May I go and see her?"  
  
She nodded vigorously. "She's in her bedroom."  
  
Giles gently stroked her cheek. "Go and get some breakfast. And... try not to wake the others yet?" She walked away toward the kitchen as he made his way up the stairs.  
  
Upon reaching Buffy's door, he took a deep breath, then gently pushed the door open. She lay in her bed, sleeping. Blonde hair, longer than he'd remembered it, fanned across her pillow like a golden halo. She was so still. It was so much like seeing her lying at the bottom of Glory's tower, lifeless.  
  
"Buffy?"  
  
Her eyes blinked open like a fairy tale princess awakening from a cursed slumber. She sat up and smiled when she saw him. His hand went over his heart as though he was physically trying to keep in the emotions that were battering at him. It was futile however and the tears soon spilled over his lashes.  
  
Buffy likewise began to cry and held her arms out to him. "Giles." He rushed to the bed and wrapped his arms around her, the strength of his embrace lifting her from the sheets. Soon, the emotions made him too unsteady to hold either of them up. He sat on her bed, gathering Buffy into his lap, never breaking the hug.  
  
He cried against her neck, unable to form words aside from the occasional whisper of her name. She placed kisses on his cheeks and forehead. "It wasn't your fault Giles. None of it was your fault." Instead of the desired effect, this only seemed to make him cry harder. "Giles I love you," she whispered.  
  
His sobbing slowed as he made a conscious effort to pull himself together. Eventually, he pulled back to look at her. Their tearstained faces each reacquainting themselves with the other. "I love you Buffy."  
  
She inhaled sharply. His declaration on the phone and her own just moments ago had merely been an acknowledgment of something between them that everyone knew but never seemed to discuss. It was so obvious it was unnecessary.  
  
But this was not that. This was no ordinary declaration. This was a qualification of the larger emotion. He wasn't telling her that she was a person that he loved. He was telling her that she was THE person he loved.  
  
It would have been an overwhelming revelation even to someone not quite 24 hours out of the grave. To Buffy it was almost staggering. At the same time though, it was also very simple. The one thing being dead did seem to give you was a crash course in perspective.  
  
Confidently, she stroked the tears away from his cheeks and smiled. "Me too Giles. Me too."  
  
She leaned forward, slowly brushing his lips with her own. His hands came up to caress her cheeks as he deepened the kiss.  
  
"Oh gross!" They jumped in unison, startled at the voice behind them. When they turned to look, they saw Dawn standing there with her hands on her hips. "What, you didn't come back as a zombie so you had to find another way to traumatize me?!"  
  
Buffy giggled a little, reassured that given time, life would in fact return to Sunnydale's version of normal. "Dawnie, I only have one thing to say to that."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah." Buffy clamped her hands over Giles ears and proceeded to kiss the breath away from her delighted Watcher.  
  
A faint "Ewww" could be heard from the doorway, followed by the sound of footsteps descending the stairs. Buffy smiled against Giles' lips and lowered him back to rest against the bedpillows as she kissed him thoroughly.   
  
  
  
  
The End 


End file.
